Monterey County Department of Child Support Services |
| How does Child Support Services (DCSS) let me know that I must withhold child support from an employee’s income? | Employers receive a wage assignment for withholding child support for the responsible employee. The notice tells you how much to withhold from your employee’s earnings for either current support, delinquent support (arrears) or both. It tells you where and how to send payment and your rights and responsibilities under California law. Included with the notice is a cover letter, identifying the Employee by name, Social Security Number and our Participant ID, as well as instructions regarding wage assignment remittances. General Instructions are also located on the back side of the wage assignment for child support.  top
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| How soon must I begin to withhold child support from the Employee? | Withhold money from the employee’s net disposable earnings as soon as possible but no later than 10 (ten) days after you have received the wage assignment. top
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| Do I need to advise the Employee that I received a wage withholding order? | YES. Your responsibility is to provide the employee with a copy of the wage assignment and the blank request for Hearing (form 1299.28) within 10 days of receipt of the notice. What should I do if the Employee tells me the income withholding notice is incorrect? Payments must continue until further order of the court or notification by DCSS. You will be held liable for any amount you fail to withhold and can be cited for contempt of court. In these situations, the Employee should be referred back to DCSS or may contact private counsel for assistance. top
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| What are considered earnings? Earnings are defined as: | Wages, salary, bonuses, overtime, vacation pay, retirement pay and commissions paid by the employer. Payments for independent contractor services. Dividends, interest, rents, royalties and residuals. Patent, mineral or other natural resource rights. Any payments due as a result of written or oral contracts for services or sales, regardless of their title; and Any other payments or credits that result from an enforceable obligation.
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| Do I wait until the end of the month to send the payment to Child Support Services? | NO. You must send the money withheld to DCSS within 7 working days of the pay date. top
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| Do I need to tell DCSS when I withheld the payment? | Yes. The Dates of Collection (DOC) or pay date must be on the check or check stubs. top
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| May I withhold a fee for processing and withholding the child support payments? | Yes. You may deduct $1.50 from the Employee’s earnings for each payment you make. top
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| Do I just send the payment with the Employee’s name on the check stub? | NO. The California Child Support State Disbursement Unit (SDU) requires the following information in order to quickly and accurately process the payment for each employee withholding included in your check: Employees Full Name, Employee’s Social Security Number, Court Order / Case Number, Amount Withheld from each employee, and Date Withheld. In addition to payments made by check the SDU can accept electronic payments LINK to SDU Employer Electronic Payments 4https://www.casdu.com/CAS_EPE/emplogin.aspx?lang=1 top
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| What if the Employee does not have sufficient earnings to satisfy the order? | After the Employee’s disposable earnings are known, withhold the amount required by the notice, but never withhold more than 50% of the disposable earnings unless the order/notice specifies a higher percentage. Federal law prohibits withholding more than 65% of disposable earnings of an employee in any case. Disposable Earnings are earnings remaining after mandatory taxes and deductions including mandatory retirement or union dues. top
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| My Employee already has one child support wage assignment on file and I have just received another one for a different child. What do I do now? | You still need to honor both wage assignments. But if the wage assignments total to more than 50% of the employee’s net disposable earnings you can still only deduct up to 50%. You will need to divide the current support assignments equitably. Remember, current support must still be paid first, health insurance premiums second, spousal support third, and then arrears payments. top
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| My Employee only works part-time. What if 50% of his/her net disposable earnings is less than the wage assignment amount for the pay period? | You can still only withhold up to 50% of the Employee’s disposable income. However, the difference should be made up in the same month’s subsequent payroll, if possible. top
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| We offer Medical Insurance to our Employees. Do I make the deductions for current child support and arrears payments before I pay out the Insurance Premiums? | NO. Medical Insurance is a form of current support. Pay in the following order: CURRENT CHILD SUPPORT MEDICAL INSURANCE PAYMENT SPOUSAL SUPPORT ARREARS ARE PAID LAST
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| Sometimes Employees already have income attachments against their paychecks. How do I handle this situation? | Federal and State law require child support withholding to take priority over ALL other income attachments, with the exception of IRS withholdings received prior to child support withholding orders. You must pay the IRS the required amount and then send DCSS any excess, as long as it does not exceed 50% of the Employee’s net disposable earnings. top
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| What if the Employee is a seasonal worker, quits or is laid-off work after I begin withholding child support? | If the Employee stops working for you, notify DCSS no later than the date of the next payment. Also, you must provide the Employee’s last known address and, if you know it, the name and address of the new employer for your former Employee. If the Employee returns to work for you, you must begin withholding child support payments again. ** NOTE: An Employer who fires or disciplines or refuses to hire an employee based upon a wage assignment faces legal penalties. top
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| I received a wage assignment order from a child support agency in another State. Must I send payments directly to the other State? | YES. Effective January 1, 1998, all states were required to honor wage assignments from other states. This is through the authority of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). top
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| I have several Employees with wage assignments from California. May I combine all of their child support in one check? | You may now include all of your employees with California child support withholding on one check. Along with that check payable to “California State Disbursement Unit”, in the same envelope, include a detailed list of each employee's withheld support payments. Including the detailed information for each employee withholding will enable the SDU to process your payments in a timely and efficient manner and will reduce any additional calls to you. The detailed information required for each withholding is: - Employee's full name
- Employee's social security number
- Court order/case number
- Case Identifier (as provided by the SDU to you) – NOTE: This information will be provided to you once you have supplied wage withholding information to the SDU for payments which have traditionally been sent to individuals. Once the SDU has received this information from you, they will provide the Case Identifier to you for those specific cases.
- Amount withheld from each employee
- Date withheld
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| National Medical Support Notice FAQs |
| What if the health insurance premium combined with the current child support is more than 50% of the employee’s disposable income? | Current support must be paid first then health insurance costs. If your employee cannot meet the current support and pay for the health insurance premium, pay the current support only. If current support only does not exceed the 50% rule, apply the additional money to any existing arrears. top
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| My employee feels that the cost of health insurance is too high. What are his/her options? | Your employee may choose to file his/her own action with the court. The judge may or may not determine that the health insurance premiums are unreasonable. If the court finds that providing health insurance would cause extraordinary hardship to the employee you will receive a court order to stop the health insurance coverage. Without this court order, you must continue to enforce health insurance. top
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| What if my employee has voluntarily elected not to maintain health insurance? | You must enroll the minor child/ren in a health insurance plan regardless of whether or not your employee wants health insurance for him/herself. top
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| There is an additional cost for dental and vision. Must I enroll the child/ren in these programs? | The state’s definition of health insurance includes dental and vision care. If these programs are offered by the employer, the minor child/ren must be enrolled regardless of whether or not they are part of the existing policy or it is a separate plan. top
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| My employee states that s/he is going to enroll the child/ren in an outside insurance plan. Am I still responsible for taking action regarding the National Medical Support Notice? | You are still responsible for enroll the minor child/ren in a health insurance plan unless you receive a court order or hear otherwise from the Department of Child Support Services. The employee must provide proof of outside coverage to the Department of Child Support Services before the order can be terminated. top
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| Can our company force an employee to sign the health insurance enrollment application? | You cannot force an employee to sign an enrollment application. All insurance companies, however, must honor the National Medical Support Notice. If an employee refuses to sign an enrollment application, write “court ordered” in place of the employee’s signature. top
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| Our company did not receive the National Medical Support Notice before the open enrollment period. Can I wait until the next open enrollment period to sign up the minor child/ren? | You must begin coverage at the earliest possible time. The National Medical Support Notice is considered to be a Qualified Medical Child Support Order (QMCSO). By law, a QMCSO requires an employer to permit the employee to enroll any child, who is otherwise eligible for health insurance coverage, without regard to enrollment period restrictions. top
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| Our company does not offer health insurance to our employees. What does my company need to do to comply with the National Medical Support Notice? | Please complete the back page of the Notice to Withhold for Health Care Coverage and the Health Insurance Statement, stating the health care coverage is not available and send it to the Department of Child Support Services. By doing so, you as employer, have filled your obligation to the National Medical Support Notice. You may wish to refer your employee to Healthy Families. Enrollment in Healthy Families should only occur when no other coverage is available. top
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| Our office only offers health insurance to employees, not their spouses or child/ren. What do I need to do to comply with the National Medical Support Notice? | Complete the back page of the Notice to Withhold for Health Care Coverage and the Health Insurance Statement, stating the health care coverage is not available to employee’s child/ren and send it to the Department of Child Support Services. By doing so, you as employer, have filled your obligation to the National Medical Support Notice. You may wish to refer your employee to Healthy Families. Enrollment in Healthy Families should only occur when no other coverage is available. top
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| Our employee will not be eligible for health insurance for a few months. What do I need to do to comply with the National Medical Support Notice? | You need to enroll the minor child/ren in the health insurance plan as soon as your employee is eligible. top
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| What if our employee has other existing health insurance for his/her child/ren? | Your employee is responsible to prove to the Department of Child Support Services that s/he is caring for the child/ren on another insurance plan. If the Department of Child Support Services deems that the health insurance is available we will inform your company that the employee has fulfilled his/her obligation to provide health insurance for the minor child/ren. top
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| Do I pay the health insurance premiums directly to the insurance provider or to the Department of Child Support Services? | You need to send the insurance premiums directly to the insurance provider. Do not send insurance premiums to the Department of Child Support Services. top
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| Where do I send the medical insurance cards for the dependants? | Send them to the Department of Child Support Services and we will forward them on to the custodial parent. top
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| Example #1 - Single Court Order with Medical | Disposable Income $2,000 Multiply by 50% Available for deductions $1,000 Order A - $300 current + $50 past due = $350 Child Support + $75 health insurance premium Total = $425 to be withheld from the employee Because $425 does not exceed the 50% rule, send $350 for child support to the Department of Child Support Services and $75 to health insurance provider. top
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| Example #2 - Multiple Orders with Medical | Disposable Income $2,000 Multiply by 50% Available for deductions $1,000 Order A - $150 current + $50 past due = $575 Order B - $100 current + $25 past due = $125 Order C - $250 past due = $250 Totals $250 current + $325 past due = $575 $575 child support + $75 medical premium = $650 withheld from the employee Forward $575 child support to the Department of Child Support Services and $75 to the health insurance provider. top
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